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Another day, another no-contest. Luna Rossa Challenge trounced Artemis Racing again Wednesday to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven Louis Vuitton Cup semifinals.

After winning by an even two minutes Tuesday, the Italians won this time by 2:06.

Artemis had inside position at the first mark, but Luna Rossa quickly maneuvered around the Swedish team. After the first jibe of the downwind second leg, the Italians shot 240 meters in front. The deficit was 1:22 at the second mark and steadily increased.

The challenger semis continue Friday and Saturday, and they’re rapidly shaping up as a four-race sweep for the Italians. They would advance to meet Emirates Team New Zealand in the challenger finals beginning Aug. 17.

Luna Rossa had a scary moment after rounding the fourth mark when the bow of its portside hull dipped dangerously into the water. The crew quickly recovered, however.

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Tom FitzGerald is the Stanford sports beat writer for The Chronicle. In more than three decades at The Chronicle, he has covered the 49ers and Raiders and a wide variety of other sports, including auto races. Among the many momentous games he has covered were the 49ers' victory over Dallas in the 1982 NFC Championship Game, which featured "The Catch'' by Dwight Clark, and the U.S. hockey team’s 1980 Olympic upset of the Soviet Union in Lake Placid, N.Y. At the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, he rode the bobsled run with members of the U.S. team for a first-person story. In 2012 he rode on Russell Coutts’ Oracle Team USA catamaran for another first-person story during the America's Cup World Series. In 2014 he rode with IndyCar legend Mario Andretti in a racecar at Sonoma Raceway, hitting speeds of more than 150 mph.
For 15 years he wrote a popular sports humor column called “Top of the Sixth’’ (later named Open Season). He lives in Martinez.